THE SECRETS WE HIDE - Karin Slaughter

Picking up from where the first book in the North Falls series left off, Sheriff Emmy Clifton and her sister, ex-federal agent Jude Archer, are near the Vickery family home when they hear shots ring out.  They are quick to action - maybe too quick as a bullet barely misses Jude who is approaching from the backyard. Entering the home, they find that Allison Vickery has been murdered in her own kitchen, and her teenage daughter, Mandy, is bleeding upstairs, left for dead. But there's no sign of the killer other than one glove on the roof.

It's a small town and everyone's got a theory as to what happened, including Emmy. But a good cop needs more than a theory ... she needs hard evidence. And she needs to remind herself that she shouldn't try to make the evidence fit her theory.

The suspect list grows longer, and more dangerous, when Emmy and Jude learn that Allison was trying to make a deal with the FBI to inform them of a whole lot of bad cops in the area... maybe cops that work directly with Emmy.

I had not read many Karin Slaughter books prior to We Are All Guilty Here, the first book in this North Falls series, but I was completely blown away by the characters, setting, plot, and writing in that book. And so I was really thrilled and anxious to get my hands on this second volume in the series (moving it up in my TBR queue in order to read it as soon as possible).

I was a little disappointed, though only slightly. I was anticipating (hoping for?) more tension between sisters Emmy and Jude. This conflict really helped identify the characters in the first book. Here they work together just a little more and definitely better. We do get more background on Jude's leaving North Falls but the lower conflict between the two greatly reduces the tension in the book as a whole.

The mystery to be solved does get more complicated due to the potential of bad cops in the department and I enjoyed the puzzle-like manner in which Allison apparently left clues as to what she was doing that Emmy needed to piece together.

The connection with the FBI office left me a bit baffled. I didn't feel we really got anything here that we couldn't have gotten in some other way without introducing a whole new character. It makes me wonder if we'll see more of this individual in future books.

I was a little bit surprised a who the killer was ... though only a little ... which does make a mystery fun.

Looking for a good book? The Secrets We Hide by Karin Slaughter is the second book in her new series, North Falls. While not quite as thrilling as the first, it's a strong mystery with interesting characters.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

4-1/2 stars

* * * * * *

The Secrets We Hide

author: Karin Slaughter

series: North Falls #2

publisher: William Morrow

ISBN: 9780063458789

hardcover, 416 pages 

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